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Salem United Methodist Church

6701 South 800 East
317-873-4015

History
Compiled in 1984 by the Committee on History: Leona Harmon, Olive Schooler, Rex Sprong, Elsie Sanders, Ina Wood, Ruby Ward, and Beuna Ottinger. Submitted by Leona E. Harmon, with additions by Virginia Crose and Joanna Halles.

In the year of 1834 in southwest Eagle Township, Boone County, a group of people met in their homes for spiritual devotions to form one of the oldest county congregations in Indiana. Services were held in this manner until 1849 when the first church was built on what used to be Salem Rd., now Kissel Rd., west of Zionsville. The old wagon track ran roughly northeast and southwest. The depression, which is all that is left now of the early highway, can still be seen in the cemetery.

On May 31, 1849, the deed for the land was made to William Lemon, William Johnson, and Jonathan Hall, trustees, by George and Elizabeth Wood, who donated the land. This first church was 30 feet wide, 36 feet long, and 12 feet high. It was named "Salem" by George Wood, who migrated to Boone County via Salem, Indiana and Salem, North Carolina. The Wood's five-year-old daughter was the first person buried in Salem's cemetery.

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